Life as We Know it
by Optimistic Insomniac
Summary: In the non magical human world, there was a girl who had a pretty basic life. She has an apartment, and she has her many siblings. She also has parents who keep pestering her about her love life. One day, she comes home and finds a life changing surprise waiting for her. As she adapts to her new 'family', life as we know it will change for this girl. RussiaxOC
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi! I know I should be working on my other fic, There's Life in Death, but I just couldn't help myself! The idea just came to me yesterday. And when you have an idea, you need to write it down before it's forgotten. I just needed to write something with Russia in it because he's too great not to write about.**

 **Yes, this is a RussiaxOC story, and I think that it could go well.**

 **Just a warning, part of this, I wrote on my phone, and my phone has this glitch sometimes when I'm typing, so if there's any major mistakes in here, it's my phone's fault. I checked it over, and I don't think I've missed anything.**

 **Do I need a Disclaimer? I don't really like using them because if I did own the things I wrote about, I wouldn't _be_ writing about them. It would all be canon. But, I'll do it anyway:**

 **I do not own Hetalia or anything related to Hetalia. I do not own the store mentioned in this chapter (Forever 21). All that I own are my OCs (Lizbet, Helena, Alexander, Marshall, Mr. & Mrs. Patel)**

 **I will be adding more OCs later on... so... with that out of the way, enjoy!**

* * *

"What colour looks the best?"

I stare at my younger sister, who just asked me a question.

"Shut up," I reply, not wanting to miss my favourite line in the song.

"What did I do now?" I swear, she's such a crybaby. I hold up my hand, signalling her to be quiet. I notice tears start to form in her eyes, and I instantly feel guilty. I take my ear buds out, and give my sister a hug.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry," I whisper in her ear. I notice a few people around us giving us strange looks, so I immediately shove my sister off in favour of telling everyone off. "WHAT, A GIRL CAN'T APOLOGISE TO HER SISTER? THAT'S HOW BAD THIS WORLD HAS GOTTEN, THAT PEOPLE CAN'T EVEN APOLOGISE TO OTHERS WITHOUT BEING JUDGED! ALRIGHT! FINE! YOU'RE ALL BEING IMPOLITE IDIOTS ANYWAY, WHY NOT MAKE EVERYONE ELSE THE SAME!"

No, I do not have problems with people.

I shove my ear buds back in, and I hear the end of my song. "Thanks Lena, I missed the best part, now I have to start the song over," I huff.

"I'm sorry!" This time, it was her turn to hug me. I've had enough hugs for today. I allowed the hug for half a second before I snapped.

I wrapped my ankle around hers and pulled up. She began to fall backwards, but I caught both her writs before she could actually hit the ground. I'm a nice sister.

"Thanks," she muttered as I pulled her back upright.

You can always count on Helena Patel to thank you stop her from getting hurt when the pain would have been caused by you. No one is sure if she's just being polite, or she's being clueless. I'd count on the latter if I were you.

I was sick of shopping, and I needed to get home for dinner, because there was no way in hell that I was going to miss out on food.

"Can we go home now?" I sound like a very whiny child right now, it's not even funny. OK, maybe it is a little funny, I don't usually act like this, I'm just hungry. And I'm not me when I'm hungry. Haha, Snickers.

"No, this is only the first store we've been to, and you promised to spend the afternoon with me."

"I don't care, I want to go eat food," and the whining continues.

"Oh! Yeah, maybe we should get going now," Lena says as she checks her phone for the time. "How long have we been in this store?"

"Too long," I reply with a laugh.

Earlier today, I was working on a painting, when I heard a knock at my door. Of course, it was none other than my only sister. I couldn't just ignore her, so I made us some lunch, and I took us out to do whatever she wanted. What can I say, I haven't seen her in a couple of months, and I kind of have a soft spot for the fifteen year old.

We've been in this god damned store for five hours.

I don't know about you, but that's a bit too long to be shopping for. She hasn't even tried anything on yet. All she did was look at things, decide if she liked them or not, and put them back. If I didn't know any better, I would say that's she's pretending to want to spend time with me, just so that she can subtly tell me what she wants for her birthday.

...

That's exactly what she's doing.

How could I have been so blind! The agony is simply unbearable!

I'm so getting her a coupon for McDonald's for her birthday. Don't think that that's payback, it's not. I already decided that I was getting her that months ago; she loves her Micky D's. I'll get her something else for revenge as well.

"Liz...?" I could vaguely hear my sister talking to me as I began plotting revenge. "Lizzy...? Lizbet...? BETH!"

I immediately snapped out of my trance at that nickname. It doesn't even make any sense. To me, anyway.

My name is Lizbet, NOT Lizbeth. There is no 'Beth' in my name. I have no problem with the name, it's just that I hate having to correct everyone I meet when I get introduced.

All of my teachers in the past, on the first day of class would call for "Lizbeth" or "Lizbette" which I never answered for. I knew they were talking about me, but I liked waiting until they finished calling attendance, and asked me who I was. "Lizbet" I would tell them, and they would get pissed. "Why didn't you raise your hand when I called you?" they would ask, and I would reply with "You didn't call me".

That's how I got sent down to the principal's office four times each semester in high school.

That's also how I got a reputation throughout those four years. I was known as 'that bitch who sasses teachers'. Not that I'm complaining, but, the teachers gave me that label. My peers simply called me 'that badass chick'. I will, however, complain to that. I am no _chick_ as you would say. I am a dignified, off topic girl who needs to get back on track.

Currently, I am dragging my sister out of Forever 21, and back to my car.

"I'm taking you back home, so I can go and eat dinner in peace," I told her as I climbed in the driver's side.

"OK!" she seemed satisfied with herself for successfully tricking me for five hours. It's a new record.

We spent the rest of the car ride in silence, not even the radio was on. I was only a five minute drive back to my parents' house, so it didn't really matter anyway.

When we finally got there, I got out with Helena, and walked her to the door. I was hoping my parents were home. I want money.

Lena opened the door and almost closed it in my face, but I stopped it with my foot. walked inside and my sister shouted, "MOM! DAD! I'M HOME!"

No reply. Like ususal.

So I tried.

"YO! I'M HERE TO GRACE YOU WITH MY PRESENCE!"

I heard running from upstairs and saw a little blond head pop up through the banister by the stairs.

"Mom, Dad, Lizbet's here!"

That was my younger brother, Alexander. Well, actually, he's my youngest brother, I still have Marshall, my twin. I'm older by ten minutes, no matter what he tells people. And then there's my older brother, Liam, but we don't like to talk about him.

Alex came running down the stairs at top speed, but slowed down enough to not crash into me (hard).

"Hey there, sport!" honestly, the kid brings out my embarrassing side. I lift him up and place him on my shoulders. "How've ya been?"

I heard a giggle from above me, and I felt my brother grab onto my hair. "Awesome! I got a new bike!"

"Really? I would love to see it!" this is how it always is with me and Alex. He's more like a son to me than a brother, and if anyone even tries to lay a finger on him, they're going to lose that digit.

I felt him gently tug on my hair, steering me toward the garage. I opened the door and ducked in, making sure he didn't hit his head. I set him down, and he ran over to the far wall.

I followed him, and saw him sitting on a shiny, neon green bike, that was the perfect size for the five year old.

"I don't even need training wheels any more!"

"Congratulations, little man!" I lifted him off the bike and gave him a big hug, spinning around as I did so.

"I wanna show you!" he laughed before I put him down, and he ran over to his bike to put on his helmet - lime green again.

"Woah, did you get a new helmet too?" I asked, genuinely happy for the boy.

"Yeah!" he looked so happy, I wanted to take a picture, but I left my phone in the car.

He sat on his bike, and I opened the garage for him. He rode outside, and down the side walk for a few houses, then turned around and came back.

I was astonished. How could my five year old younger brother master turning around on the side walk, while I still struggle to keep my balance?

"That was amazing! How did you do that?" I exclaimed when he came back with a very proud look on his face.

"Magic," he waved his hands in front of his face to imitate fairy dust when he stopped.

We went back inside to find my parents waiting for us in the dining room.

"Did you have fun?" my mother asked the both of us.

"Yeah!" Alex was jumping up and down.

I sat at the table across from my mother, and Alex sat on my lap, giving me a mouthful of his messy, blond hair. I leaned to the side so I could see my parents.

I noticed a tea sitting in front of me. Finally my family remembered that I don't drink coffee.

"What kind is it?" I ask, eyeing the mug.

"Pomegranate raspberry," my father replied. Eh, it's not my favourite, but I can cope with this. "How's life been treating you?"

"Pretty good," I reply. It isn't a lie, I just got a promotion at work, and that money was greatly appreciated. And spent. "I got promoted a couple of weeks ago."

"Good for you," my mother said. There was an awkward silence, with the only sound being Alex slurping on his juice box. My parents looked at each other before looking at me. "You know, we were going to have a nice family dinner tomorrow. Marshall's bringing his boyfriend, and I would like you to be here, maybe bring someone too."

Oh. That's where this conversation led to? It's not like I'm surprised, every time I come visit my parents, we always manage to get to this topic, I just didn't think it would be suggested so suddenly.

"I told you, I'm not dating anyone," I calmly said, sipping at my tea.

"Well, honey," my Dad said, "we just want you to be happy."

"I am happy. I'm just not looking for a relationship right now." That's only a half lie. I would love to be in a relationship, but I can't find anyone who I connect with, so I just don't bother any more.

"Alright, but you're still welcome to bring a guest tomorrow."

We sat there in a comfortable silence listening to the background music of the game Lena was playing on her phone. How should I go about this subtly? Should I just ask, or should I ease into the subject. Not like my parents ever did...

"Can I ask a question?" no subtly then? Alright.

"Sure sweetie," my Mom replied.

"It's kind of embarrassing," I warned them. It isn't embarrassing at all.

"If you aren't comfortable, we can talk in private."

"No, no. It's just, how am I going to say this... Can I have some money?"

I am met with dead silence. My parents are looking at me with a deadpanned expression, and Lena actually looked up from her phone to stare at me. Alex was just being Alex, continuing to drink his apple juice.

Then the laughter erupted. I don't remember who started it, but everyone joined in. It was nice to spend some time with my family again like this.

"Why didn't you just ask?" my Dad asked once he calmed down.

"I don't know, I wanted a nice delivery!" I told them.

"Mission complete," my Mom chimed in as she pulled out her wallet. "That just earned you more than last time you asked."

 _Sweet! Last time they gave me two hundred dollars!_ What can I say, I like money.

I was handed five of those gorgeous brown bills* and I was actually kind of surprised at the amount offered to me.

"Oh, no, I any accept this much," I told them.

"No, it's fine, take it," my mother assured me.

"I can't."

"It's fine, Liz," my Dad joined.

"I ca-"

"Take it."

"Fine, alright, I'll take the money! Sheesh!" I reluctantly took the offered money and shoved it messily in my wallet.

"Why don't you ever give me money?" Lena complained.

"Because you don't live on your own, Helena," my mother said.

"I should get going," I said as soon as I finished my tea.

"Alright, don't forget dinner tomorrow. It's at 6, don't be late!"

I forced Alex of my lap so I could stand up. He tried to stop me from leaving the house, but to no avail. I made it to the door no problem.

"No! Don't go big sis!" he looked like he was about to cry.

"Alex," I said, kneeling down to his height, "I'm going to be back tomorrow, don't worry."

"But I want to play..."

"We can play tomorrow before dinner, I'll come early."

His eyes brightened up at that. "Really?"

"Of course, darling," I gently kissed him on the forehead before I left my old house.

I walked back to my car, and drive across town to get to my apartment. It was a nice place with too much space for just me, it gets kind of lonely sometimes. My parents bought it for me, a sheer sign they wanted me out of the house, but it seems like they regret it now.

Unfortunately, when Marshall moved out, he accidentally bought an apartment down the hall from mine. At least, I think it was accidental. We've always been close, being twins and all, so it was no surprise he felt the urge to live near me again.

But he's just _so_ annoying!

In my point of view, anyway.

I walked through the front lobby and greeted the doorman before taking the stairs to the third floor. I didn't bother stopping at my brother's place because only God knows what he does in there.

I walked straight to my door, and unlocked it slowly like always. When I opened my door, I saw a young man sitting at my table.

He had light blond (platinum blond, maybe?) hair, and dazzling violet eyes. His round, childish face was adorned with a polite, cheerful smile.

I want sure how to respond, so I did in the only way I knew how.

"What would you like to eat?"

* * *

 **A/N: I would also like you to know that updates will most likely (almost certainly) be irregular due to the fact that I am taking online courses this summer, and I should have been working when I typed this. Any awful plot holes in this whole story is due to the stress caused by my stupidity.**

 **I also typed the majority of this at 4:30-ish in the morning, because I had nothing better to do at the time. My eyes hurt.**

 ***Brown Bills: Canadian currency, we have amazing colour-coated money that Americans lack. I don't like money to be all the same colour, it's not as interesting. The brown ones are worth $100. And they smell like maple.**


	2. Chapter 2

I know what you might be thinking: 'Lizbet, why are you offering a random stranger who is in your house food?' or maybe, 'Lizbet, are you crazy?'.

I can assure you, I know what I'm doing. I think.

If you would like the answer to the last question, the answer is probably.

The man sitting at my dinner table proceeded to look at me as if that answer was really a 'yes'. I wan't sure how to react to that, so I repeated myself.

"What would you like to eat?"

When I still didn't get a reply, I sighed.

"Listen, I'm hungry, and I would like to eat something. Are you just going to sit there and do nothing, or are you going to answer me and eat as well?"

Finally he spoke up. "You have just met me, and you are offering me food, even though I am in your house? You do not even care how I got in here?" I could identify his sweet accent as Russian. It sounds so beautiful.

"Yes."

That answer has a double meaning if you get what I'm saying. I am crazy, there is no doubt there now.

But I have a perfectly good reason for accepting this stranger into my home so easily: I'm used to it. Yes, I'm used to random strangers lounging around in my apartment when I come back home from places. Usually it's my brother pulling a prank on me, but sometimes, it is a real problem. Just looking at this guy makes me think it's the latter situation - he doesn't quite seem like the kind of guy Marshall would typically hang out with.

Oh well, I'm going to give him food anyway.

"Is there anything specific you want to eat, or...?" I tried to get an answer from him again.

"No, I am in your home, you are the hostess, I should not be here," his voice - along with his smile - when he replied made him sound so sweet and innocent, but I could see in his eyes he felt guilty about something.

"It's fine, but if you're not going to choose anything, you're going to get poached salmon, is that fine?"

"Yes, that is fine, but I can leave," why does he not want to stay for dinner? I'm being nice for once!

"I said it's fine. You can stay," I paused for a second. "Now, will you tell me your name?"

"I am Ivan Braginsky," he told me, brightening his smile.

"I'm Lizbet Patel," I offered my hand and he shook it. "Welcome to my humble abode," I did a little mock bow when he let go of my hand.

"Thank you."

I proceeded to walk toward my small kitchen. "You can sit wherever you like, you don't have to stay at the table," I called out as soon as I approached my counter.

I didn't hear a reply or anything moving, so I assumed he stayed where he was.

 ***This is a time skip brought to you by the salmon that will be eaten***

I made the meal to the best of my abilities because I have a guest and I don't want to serve bad food and look like a bad host. I brought the serving plates and utensils out with me into the main room of my apartment, and noticed that Ivan did move. He was sitting on my couch in the exact same position as before.

I set the food on the table and I realised that I forgot to actually set it, so I rushed back into the kitchen to get the plates and silverware.

Ivan was still sitting at the couch, just watching me move around the table to make it look presentable.

"Alright, dinner is served!" I turned to the man sitting on my couch and he gave me a surprised look. "What?"

"Nothing. It is just that you made dinner so quick," he told me with that same sweet smile.

"Would you like anything to drink?" I asked, trying to hide the very faint blush on my face.

"If it is not too much to ask, do you have vodka?"

I sighed, I really had no idea if I had any vodka. "I'll see what I have," I told him before returning to the kitchen.

I opened the cabinet door where I kept my wine and any other drinks I kept only for when Liam (my older brother) visits. Sure enough, I had a bottle of vodka sitting right in the middle of it all. I remembered Marshall giving this to me a couple months ago. Why? I have no idea.

I opened another cabinet and saw I that I only had wine, martini, and generic (but large) water glasses. I sighed again and pulled out a martini glass.

I came back into the room and saw Ivan sitting back at his original spot at my table.

"Is this alright? It's all I have." I asked, sitting down across from Ivan, _finally_ getting that well deserved break.

"Yes, this is great. I didn't expect you to have any, let alone such an expensive one."

 _Expensive? What the hell, Marshall! I don't even drink vodka, and he buys me an expensive one?_

"Hehe, yeah, I didn't expect to have it either, but then I remembered my brother gave it to me," I replied, bringing up my brother in hopes that he will respond in a way that told me he knew him.

"You have a brother?"

Yay.

I let myself sigh again. "Yeah, I actually have three, and a sister."

"That's a lot of siblings," he let out a soft giggle ( _how cute_ ). "I have two sisters. One older and one younger."

"Ah, one of my brothers is older, but everyone else is younger. But Marshall, my twin thinks he's older - he's not," I let out a small laugh as I finished my sentence. I'm starting to feel a little more comfortable with Ivan.

"You are a twin?" he asked me. He sounds genuinely interested in my life, that doesn't happen very often for me.

"Yeah, he lives just down the hall unfortunately. But he's still pretty great," I let us go into a comfortable silence before asking another question. "What are your sisters like?"

"My older sister, Katyusha, is really nice and she has a really big heart, and she works really hard too. My younger sister," he let out a visible shudder, "Natalia, is very pretty, and has a... strong heart. She is very, how should I put this, possessive."

"They seem nice," I tried to ignore how uncomfortable he seemed when talking about Natalia.

"What about you, what are your siblings like?" he asked me as his smile gradually returned to his face.

"Oh, my older brother, Liam, he's a bit strange, as you could put it. He is a very passionate artist, let it be visual, written, or another form. I don't see him very often, but he really only visits me. Marshall, however, I see almost every day. He is sometimes rude, but we try to ignore it, but he can be really civilized and polite when he tries to. My sister, Helena, is basically a typical teenage girl, and is always trying to get stuff from me. And then there's Alex, my youngest brother. He's only five, and he's the most important thing in the world to me."

"Your family sounds really fun," Ivan replied.

"Fun? I guess that's a word to describe it. I would call it hectic, but I guess you're right too," I let out another laugh.

That's how the evening remained; just talking about random things that came to mind, it was kind of nice. We finished our meal and I cleaned up even after Ivan protested to help. We ended up moving to the couch, with him drinking vodka, and me sipping at some red wine.

I realized I still haven't bothered to ask how Ivan even got into my apartment, so I just asked.

"How did you get in here again?"

He looked at me as if in thought, then turned his head so he wasn't facing me. "I was dragged here by a stranger." He drank some more vodka.

"What?" I wasn't sure if that was the truth, or if that was because of the vodka he was drinking at a surprisingly quick rate, but he was still acting normal, so I went for the former.

He kept his head facing straight as he explained himself. "I was walking through the streets, fairly lost, but that was because I'm visiting from Russia. A young woman came to me and told me she could help me find my way. I told her I was fine, but she didn't listen. She dragged me here somehow. Her arm isn't very useful now though." He turned to me and his smile widened. "But I met you, it's fine."

Now, I really didn't know how to respond to that, so don't judge me on what I said next.

"Would you... like to stay overnight then? Because you said you were kind of lost, and if someone's out there who tried to bring you somewhere - not that I don't think you can handle it, I think you would do a wonderful job-," where was this ramble going again? Oh yes, "so would you?"

He looked at me again in consideration. "You are a very sweet girl, I would love to stay." That guilty look he had in his eyes washed away without a trace, and he had genuine happiness on his face.

That didn't help my blush though. I blame the wine.

We continued talking for another hour or so, then we decided to turn in for the night. I let him use the spare room I kept for whenever Liam did visit. We bid goodnight, and went to bed without another word.

 ***Le time skip brought to you by magic pipe of pain***

That was the best night of sleep I've gotten since I moved out. Maybe it was just the fact that I knew I wasn't alone in my apartment that night, but I'm not complaining.

I proceeded with my morning routine - take a shower, get dressed, brush teeth and hair, makeup - the usual. I knew Ivan was already awake; I saw him walk out of the guest room, and told him to help himself to whatever he wanted in the kitchen when I stuck my head out of my door. I was kind of glad my apartment had two bathrooms, and one of them was attached to my room. There was no way I was leaving my room until I was completely ready.

I walked into the main room to see Ivan sitting at the table with a tea in hand.

"You look nice," he told me when he saw me walk into the room. I tried to hide my blush again - I couldn't blame it on wine now.

I looked at what I was wearing. It wasn't anything special, just jeans and a yellow v-neck I found in my closet. It was really just dress code for work - plain, brightly coloured t-shirt with long pants.

"Cпасибо..." I muttered a thank you as I walked into the kitchen.

"Do you speak Russian?" Ivan asked me with high interest.

"Not much, but I know a couple of words," I replied as I turned on the kettle again.

I could feel his eyes on me, so I turned around. "You can stay here for as long as you want. You said you were visiting, when did you get here?"

"I got here yesterday around noon, but you don't have to do that."

"No, it's fine, I appreciate the company. But now I'm going to be a bad host. I have to go to work soon, so you can do whatever you want really. I'll give you the key if you want to go do something fun, because who am I to keep you here?"

He gave me a look of surprise when I offered to give him the spare key, but I ignored it.

"Where do you work?" he decided to ignore that topic too.

"I work at this greenhouse/flower shop place down the road. It's not much, but I like it."

"Are there sunflowers there?"

"Oh yes! We have so many sunflowers, we had to make an addition to the building so we could fit them all!" I laughed at the memory of having all the sunflowers crowding all the shoppers when they were trying to walk around them.

"Can I... come with you then?" he was hesitant in asking.

"Really? You want to go?" it kind of surprised me, Ivan didn't strike me as one to like flowers, but you learn something new every day.

"Yes, I love sunflowers, they're so bright and they make me so happy. My house is so cold, so I can't help but love the warmth they seem to give."

Ivan was really passionate about going to see the sunflowers, so I agreed to bring him with me.

So maybe I lied when I said it was just down the road. It's a bit far, but only because it was in a more rural area. We finally made it there after a fifteen minute drive, and I parked my car in the usual spot.

I turned my head and saw Ivan looking at the greenhouse.

"What is it?" I asked him, stopping myself from opening the door.

"You said it wasn't big. This place is huge." I now recognise the look on his face to be one of awe.

"No, I said it wasn't 'much'," I left it at that and got out of the car. Ivan quickly followed, and I locked the door.

I headed for the employee entrance, and I gestured for Ivan to follow me. I opened the door and was instantly greeted by Katarina, one of the younger employees. She was only seventeen, but she's been working here for almost as long as I had, so about four years maybe.

"Liz! You're finally here! I was forced to sit around here waiting for you!" she threw her arms around my neck and started bouncing up and down.

She finally stopped when she realized I didn't come alone. She turned her head to Ivan, who was awkwardly standing in the doorway.

"Who's this?"

"Kat, this is Ivan. He's my friend visiting from Russia," I turned to Ivan as I gestured to him. He had such a pure look of happiness on him, I didn't know what else to call it than ecstasy.

The next thing I knew, I was engulfed in a huge bear hug. I don't remember how that happened, all that I know is that I can hear the clicking of Kat's camera on her phone.

I was released from the hug, and I just knew that my face was beet red.

"U-uh, well, you wanted to see the sunflowers?" I managed to stutter out before dragging Ivan with me out of the staff area.

The sunflowers were at the back, so I had to walk for a while before getting to another door that still had to be opened for the day. I unlocked it, and pushed it open. When I turned around to look at Ivan again, he was already gone.

I turned back to the newly opened room, and saw Ivan standing in the middle of a wide, circular clearing amongst the many, many sunflowers with another look of ecstasy on his face. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought he would start crying tears of joy, heck I felt a small tear run down my cheek when I saw how happy he was in this room.

"So, what do you think?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

He was still taking it all in, so I decided to open the roof to let more light in. The clear sky above added such a nice feel to the greenhouse. We had just over a thousand sunflowers back here, so it looked more like a field or really big garden with the roof open.

I still didn't get a reply, so I turned my head back to the tall man in the clearing.

I think I broke Ivan.

I approached him slowly, and then rapidly waved my hand in front of his face. Yep, I broke Iv-

I was in another bear hug, this time, I returned it.

"You said it wasn't much," he sounded like he was accusing me of something.

"It isn't," I said, closing my eyes.

"This is the single most greatest thing I have ever seen, and you call it 'not much'?"

"Hehe, yep." I felt Ivan's grip on me tighten.

We stayed there in a nice silence, until we heard Kat's camera click again. We separated quickly, and I didn't protest when I felt the blush come back to my face.

"Didn't Liz do such a great job on this room, Ivan?" she asked him when she put her phone away.

He whipped his head so he could see me again. "You did this?"

I shied away, and tried to hide my face behind my hair, but to no avail. "Yes..." I replied quietly.

I heard Kat back out of the room, and I felt like punching her in the face.

"Is this why you said it wasn't much?"

"Maybe..." I muttered in reply.

Ivan at on a bench at the edge of the clearing and took it all in.

"Do you do other displays?"

"That's mostly all I do here, but I focused mostly on the sunflowers."

I heard Ivan mutter something under his breath in awe, but all I could hear was the word "one".

I was curious to what he said, so I asked, "What was that?"

He looked up at me and smiled again.

"Nothing~"

* * *

 **A/N: Hi, I'm back! With a fairly long chapter! I kept on writing even though I have ten assignments due in a day and a half. Oops...**

 **I tried to keep Russia in character, but I needed to get this introduction chapter done in order for the story to actually get somewhere. I also wanted to introduce some of my OC's personalities, so I managed that. I don't remember if I said ages on here, so I might as well do it now:**

 **Lizbet and Marshall: 21  
Helena: 15  
Alexander: 5  
Liam: 27  
Katarina: 17**

 **I'm not going to give the parents ages, and if I do, it won't be until later.**

 **Reviews~~~**

 **ArmCannos34: Yeah, we don't have milk jugs, but we have bags, bottles, and cartons, so that's always fun! Not really, the States still has much better food, it makes me sad for Canada.**

 _ **I do not know how to make poached salmon, so that is why I skipped it. Also because that would be boring as hell.**_

 **Don't do drugs kids. Au revoir!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: So here's the deal, I am truly very sorry for taking so long to update this, but I'm not going to bother with excuses. It would bore you to read them, so there is no point. This chapter has originally been longer, but I had to split it because it would have been too long for my tastes. I wanted to publish both halves at the same time to make up for the long wait, but I didn't finish the other half, and I was already taking too long.**

 **WARNING: this chapter may contain fluff. And family love. And my sister read it and I think I broke her.**

* * *

I had requested to take a half-day today, so I could go to my parents' place for dinner, that meant I finished work around noon. It was time to get lunch anyway, so I figured that I would take Ivan back home, and make something to eat.

But first I had to find him.

I made my way back to the sunflower area, because I figured he would stay with the flowers he made such a big deal out of. He wasn't on the little bench in the front clearing, so I was forced to walk through the paths in the large room.

Even after working here for years, and designing this room, it still gets a bit confusing when you're navigating through it. We even have to check the room after the shop closes to make sure no one is lost.

Eventually, I made it into another clearing, this time, a bit smaller. Ivan was looming over a couple of children who were standing on a few crushed flowers.

"What happened?" I asked as I walked up to Ivan's side.

"These children were crushing flowers," was the reply I got from Ivan, him not taking his smiling face off the two young boys. They looked about ten years old.

"When did this happen?" I asked, remembering seeing a few crushed sunflowers on my trek here.

This time, one of the boys answered. "The past five minutes. It was all Brady's idea! I tried to stop him!" he practically shouted while pointing at who I'm guessing is his brother considering their similar appearances.

"Andrew! You're such a tattle tale! I'm not talking to you anymore!" the second, Brady, I'm assuming, shouted at a louder volume than Andrew.

The two continued to loudly shout at each other, and Ivan looked like he was going to kill someone with a marshmallow any second. It really wasn't that big of a deal, the sunflowers, I mean, but I suppose if everyone is going to make a mountain out of a molehill, I should intervene.

"Boys," I interrupted the quarrel, gaining the attention of the three males, "do you know the way out of the sunflower room?"

They nodded their heads quickly, and shot cautious glances Ivan's way.

"Good, now I want you to go over to the roses by the check out, and talk to the nice lady, Katarina. She won't bite, just go tell her what happened, and she will sort this out."

The children nodded again, and headed in the direction I came.

"I hope they don't get lost in here..." I say under my breath.

"They will not, they can follow the trail of dead flowers they left behind."

Well, that was pleasant. Thank you Ivan.

"Alright, I have the rest of the day off, so how's lunch sound?" I asked the man next to me.

"Lunch? But the flowers... How can you think about food when sunflowers are in pain?" honestly, with that face, and the child-like innocence in his voice, there was no way that I could ignore the flowers.

"Fine, I'll see what the damage is..." I mumbled as I took a step toward the flowers, but Ivan was faster.

He sped to the sunflowers on the ground just a few feet from where we were just standing, and gently lifted one up. They were still in the ground and partially alive, but they looked pretty helpless. He was treating the flower like a newborn baby that needed as much protection as possible.

"Do you... want it?" I asked, already certain of what the answer would be. I knelt down to his level to get a closer look at his fa-lowers! Haha, flowers! Not his face, don't be ridiculous!

He turned his head slowly and met my gaze. Remember that joy on his face that I told you about earlier? Yeah, it's back.

He gently set the sunflower down again, and engulfed me in another hug. That was the third one today, I reached my limit two hugs ago. Why am I not stopping him?

When he broke the hug, he got to work picking the flowers while causing the "least amount of pain" as he said. There were only two that were crushed in this area, so that's what I allowed him to take.

We began walking back toward the main building when Ivan stopped suddenly. I noticed there were more flowers that were nearly destroyed by those two boys.

I was in no mood to be arguing over how many sunflowers I would allow in my house, so I let him take all the crushed ones. We wouldn't be able to sell them, and I have a feeling that Ivan will find a way to bring them back to full health.

I ended up in a car with ten full grown, half dead, sunflowers being held together by the man who randomly appeared in my apartment.

Not the weirdest day I've had.

By the time we got back, it was around one in the afternoon. There was still some time until dinner, so that doesn't matter.

Wait. I'm forgetting something, aren't I?

I have my phone, my keys, a bunch of sunflowers I don't need, Ivan hugging them... What could I be forgetting?

Shit.

I told Alex I would come over early so I could play with him. Why did I have to say that? Now I need to ditch Ivan earlier than intended.

Or, I could just bring him to dinner with me. Yeah, that sounds good. My parents did say that I could bring someone, and how could anyone not like Ivan? Well, excluding Brady and Andrew, I guess.

"Ivan?" I asked after finishing my first slice of the pizza we picked up on the way back.

"Дa?" he was taking another slice as he said this.

"Remember how I said I was going to be a bad host?"

"Дa," he repeated.

"Well, I kind of have this family dinner to go to today, but they said I could bring someone, so...?" I let the sentence drift off, so he could do all the work for me. I never noticed how bad I am at this.

"When is it?"

"Well, dinner's at six, but, I told my little brother, Alex, that I would be there early. I couldn't bear to look at his face when he was upset, so I kind of had to."

"You really like children, don't you?" that question was unexpected.

"Yeah, I guess, I mean, I have a younger sister, and a kid brother, I kind of have to. Plus, we were all children once before, we know their desires, and how they feel, might as well take advantage of that – in the good way, of course – and make them happy," my answer was also unexpected.

He let out a small chuckle. "If you are positive I will not be intruding."

 ***This is a time skip brought to you in part by a sunflower***

We left my apartment around three-thirty, so we got at my parents' shortly after. I was a nervous wreck – this would mark the first time I actually brought someone to one of my family's dinners. Sure, my parents have met my other par- guy friends before, but not at a dinner. With all my siblings (more or less).

We haven't even got out of the car, and I'm already freaking out. Of course I didn't let that show, that would be embarrassing. I'll just wait until no one's looking.

Is there a possibility that we can just turn around, and go back to my place? Surely, my car hasn't been spotted yet, right? Maybe Alex will forget what I said yesterday.

Crap, Helena just opened the front door.

I guess I have no choice but to go through with this.

Helena was just giving me the weirdest look from where she stood on the front porch. Either it was from the fact that she may not know about me coming early, or that I'm just sitting in the car for no reason.

I opened my car door, and proceeded to get out, with Ivan following on the passenger side. Lena looked shocked that I actually brought someone with me for once, so she stepped aside to let us in without question. This was sure to end soon.

"Ivan," I began looking at him, "this is my sister, Helena. Helena," I turned to her and gestured to the man next to me, "this is my friend, Ivan."

"Hello!" Ivan said, offering his hand for Lena to shake with a smile on his face.

"H-hi..." she hesitantly took the offered hand, and shook it gently.

It was obvious that Helena was extremely uncomfortable, so I left it at that. Don't worry, I will make sure things will get more awkward for her later.

As soon as they released hands, my sister went back into the house, for once, being polite enough to hold the door. I smiled to Ivan as an invitation to come inside, and we followed the fifteen year old in.

"Mom, Dad! Liz is here!" she shouted with a smirk on her face. She didn't mention Ivan, and she knows my parents are going to make a big deal about this, or embarrass me.

"Yayyyyyyy!" I heard Alex shout from upstairs, and I heard the patter of his feet on the carpeted floor. We saw him rush down the stairs, and before we could do anything, he accidentally crashed into Helena.

"Alex, we know you're glad to see me, but we already talked about running into Lena," I joked as I helped him up off of the teenager.

Alex noticed Ivan awkwardly standing there, and decided to bring the attention to him. "Who's that?" he asked, pointing to him.

"This is my friend, Ivan," I pulled Alex into a better spot so Ivan could see him better. "This is Alex," was the explanation I gave as I squished my brother's face.

Ivan knelt down to Alex's (and at the moment, my) level. "It is very nice to meet you," he let out that (cute) giggle from yesterday. It must have bought Alex over because he grabbed his hand and attempted to drag Ivan into the living room.

I chuckled and followed the two further into the house, ditching Helena on the floor.

I watched the two from the entrance to the living room. Alex was convincing Ivan to play a game with him that he couldn't play normally because he was always 'surrounded by girls'; ie: Helena. Ivan was nice enough to play with him, and it looked like things were going well, so I left to go talk to my parents.

I found them sitting at the bar in the kitchen. With Helena whispering something to them.

Great.

My father was the first to notice I've entered the room.

"Hey Lizbet! I hear you've brought someone with you!"

I sighed. "Yes, I did, but it's not what you thi-"

I was cut off by my mother. "Where is he?"

I sighed again. "He's in the other room with Alex. Again, it isn't what you think, let me finish next time."

I let my mom feel the guilt of cutting me off, before I started again.

"So, what's for dinner?"

They both laughed, while Helena was muttering something under her breath.

"It's a surprise," my father replied.

"Can I help?" sorry, I can't help it, I love to cook.

"No. That ruins the surprise."

"Yeah, Liz, learn how surprises work," Lena added as she poured herself a glass of milk without looking up.

"I know how they wor-"

I was cut off again, but this time by strong arms wrapping around my waist and lifting me into the air. There wasn't really anything I could do, so I let it happen. Before I was dragged out of the room, I saw my sister spill the milk from her laughter.

I soon found myself back in the living room, in front of Alex who was sitting on a throne made out of pillows and blankets.

"I have brought her, master," Ivan said from behind me. I turned my head to see him with a wide smile on his face.

"Kneel before me, peasant!" Alex shouted.

I wasn't sure if he was talking to me, but I was pretty sure he was. I decided to play along because that's what you're supposed to do in situations like this. I knelt on the ground, and I felt Ivan place his large hand on my head.

I opened my mouth to say something, but I was cut off again, by Alex this time.

"You cannot speak unless spoken to!" he lifted his scepter (it was a broom). "You will be imprisoned immediately!"

"Imprisoned?" I asked, hoping to be able to finish my sentence this time. "What did I do wrong?"

"Do you want to make it executed?"

"No, my King," I tried to hide my giggle. Really, do you know how hard it is to take a five year old seriously when he's threatening to execute you?

Ivan moved his hand and gently grabbed my arm, and prompted me to stand. I was taken to the other side of the large room, where a single chair sat. It was the old time-out chair. That thing is older than me! It's one of those really hard wooden ones, where no matter what you did, you could not be comfortable.

I sat in it, and Ivan stood guard, making sure that I couldn't escape.

"Servant," Alex said to Ivan as he stood up. "I will go claim the kitchen as ours!"

Ivan gave him a salute, and watched as the young boy left the room.

"Ivan!" I whispered.

I didn't get a reply, only what looked like to be a laugh being held back.

"Ivan!" I whined, a little louder.

"Yes, peasant?" he asked, without breaking character or looking at me.

I sighed. "Why am I being 'imprisoned'? This chair is stupid!"

"The young king wants you as a trophy," he still didn't turn to face me.

"I am not an object!" I say, getting back into character. "I am going to rebel!" I stood up and tried to get past Ivan.

Unfortunately, he saw that coming, and easily stopped me from leaving the room.

Alex walked back into the room carrying a chocolate chip cookie, and saw me standing up from the time-out chair.

"Don't let her escape!" he started laughing, and he put his cookie on the coffee table before running over to us.

"I am not an object!" I repeat, joining in the laughter. I pretend to struggle against Ivan blocking my path to the hallway.

"What the heck?" I heard Helena from the entrance to the room. I took advantage of the distraction, and slipped passed Ivan to hide behind my sister.

She didn't process what was going on too well, because she didn't react to Alex trying to squeeze past her legs. She did however, notice Ivan coming our way.

She tried to get out of the way, but she was practically sandwiched between me and Alex.

"We'll just have to take her instead!" Alex pronounced to Ivan.

I moved Helena out of the way, and took a step forward (around Alex, of course). "No, you can't take my sister!" I made my awesome self-sacrifice in an overly-dramatic voice.

Ivan grabbed my arm again, and gently led me back to the chair.

"Don't worry, sister dear," I began, "I will be okay. Get out of here before they take you too!"

When I turned to sit in the chair, I saw Lena's face. She looked twelve levels of weirded out. It was hilarious!

Ivan was back to standing guard, so I whispered to him, "Ivan, get Lena too! I don't want to suffer here alone!"

I know this makes my awesome self-sacrifice seem pointless now, but it's always funny to watch my sister be embarrassed.

Ivan walked back to Alex, who was now back on his 'throne' eating his cookie. I watched as he bent down and whispered something into his ear. Alex's grin grew wide, and he nodded eagerly.

"Helena," Ivan turned to my sister.

She was shocked that the attention in the room turned to her, and she didn't know what to do.

He started to walk toward Lena, and said, "how would you like to live in a castle."

That line was so cheesy, I had to laugh even before my sister was dragged over to join me by the chair.

"Now that we have two prisoners," Alex began, "one will have to go."

"My King," Ivan started, still in his position guarding us, "surely, you can spare both these beautiful girls from execution?"

I saw Helena's face heat up from the corner of my eye, and she was doing a very terrible job at hiding it. I, on the other hand, could tell my face was a slight pink, but I continued to smile.

Alex seemed to be considering his options, and then made up his mind.

"Peasant Number One!" I understood that to be me, as he was looking directly at me, so I stood up. "You will replace my servant!"

I looked to Ivan, as he feigned hurt by putting his hand over his heart. My siblings and I laughed at his misfortune.

"Now you heard him, Ivan, you just lost your job! What do you want to do with him, my King?" I ask my little brother.

"Execution!"

"Sorry Ivan, I take my job very seriously, and I plan to keep it *cough* unlike you *cough*." I escorted him to my brother, who made a plastic sword appear out of nowhere.

"Wow Lizbet, sacrifice your boyfriend, even though he saved you. Nice," Helena's statement gave the room an awkward feel to it. But, since Alex can't sense the mood, he poked Ivan in the chest with the toy sword, proclaiming him to be dead.

It was the best thing to ignore Lena at this time, so that's what we did. Luckily, that's when my parents walked in.

"Mom! Dad," I said that a bit too eagerly when changing the subject, didn't I? Oh Well. "This is my friend, Ivan," I didn't put any emphasis on friend, but a gave a slightly noticeable glare in my their direction to give them the hint. "Ivan, these are my parents, David and Clarisse Patel. I believe you three have seen each other when I was abducted from the kitchen," I said pointedly.

"Nice to meet you, son," my father went for a handshake, which Ivan gratefully returned.

My mother, however, went for a hug.

Which Ivan also gratefully returned.

Am I the only one that understands personal space?

"It is nice to meet you two as well," Ivan politely responded to my father after my mother released him.

When my father heard his voice, his face lit up. I totally forgot, my father is a translator for many languages, and he has been trying to add Russian to his services, but he needs a bit of assistance picking up the language. Wait, he can't hear my thoughts, why am I being so nice? Yeah, my dad's teacher quit on him. If he doesn't bring up this topic now, it will turn up later this evening.

It turns out, it would be later this evening that this subject will be touched upon, as the three were just chatting. That made me relax a little – Ivan's visiting, he doesn't want to be helping my father with his work.

I sat down on the couch where my sister has moved to during the latest introductions.

"I don't like him," she whispered to me, so only I could hear it.

"Helena! That is extremely rude!" everyone turned to us. You see, I am not the best at scolding quietly, so this was to be expected. Luckily, I always have an excuse for situations like this.

"She insulted my taste in wine. I don't know where she's getting her opinions from, but I am highly offended by her comment," see, would I lie to you? My parents know how possessive I am over my wine, so I went with that.

"Helena," my mother was about to begin scolding my little sister, and there was absolutely no way I was going to stick around to hear the boring lecture.

I picked up Alex after brushing away the cookie crumbs on his face, and brought Ivan into the rec room on the other end of the house. It's a fairly large house, so it was nice and quiet over here.

"Sorry about that," I apologized to Ivan as I put my brother down, "my sister knows not to insult my wine, and that she isn't supposed to be drinking it either," he doesn't need to know the truth, right? "Well, we won't hear the yelling from over here."

"It is okay. I was right, your family is very fun!" why does everything he say have to come with that adorable smile? He must get tired of smiling all the time, right?

"Fun? Well, I suppose you have a point..." I drift off when Alex steps between us.

Well, to be more precise, in front of Ivan. I can't see his face because of the angle he's at, but when he goes in to give Ivan's legs a hug, I caught a glimpse of a smile.

I wondered how Ivan would react to this, so I sat down on a nearby loveseat to watch. He bent down and picked Alex up as if he weighed nothing. This resulted in the five year old wrapping his arms around the Russian's neck for both a hug, and support so he didn't fall.

Not going to lie: adorable.

Ivan sat down next to me in the empty spot on the loveseat with Alex still in his arms. I was actually pretty surprised my brother hasn't said anything in awhile - he usually likes to have the attention on him.

"Aww, Ivan," I tease, "looks like someone likes you~"

I noticed a faint pink tint his cheeks when I said that, and that caused me to let out a small giggle.

Suddenly, a quiet snore comes from my little brother. He fell asleep. How does Ivan do it!? My brother takes forever to get to sleep at night, and here he just falls asleep on Ivan's lap! Wow, that is really unfair. Maybe Ivan should have showed up at my place years ago.

"Wow, you're a miracle worker," I tell him. "No one can get him to sleep that easily. He must really like you then," I let out another giggle. "But seriously though, if it's an inconvenience, I can take him."

Ivan didn't reply right away. Instead he looked down at the small boy in his arms.

"No, it is fine," there's my answer. "I do not want to wake him."

We sat there in peace for a while, until I realize that Helena's scolding should be over with. It just turns out that I realized that at quarter to six.

And that my twin, Marshall, decided that this was when he was going to show up. Through the back door. Right by the room we were in.

Basically, to sum this up: the back door is connected to the rec room by a small hallway, and we have a pretty good view of the entrance to that hallway from where we sit, and vice versa.

"Hey, sis," my twin said as he passed the room.

I didn't reply because I knew he was going to notice Ivan in about 3... 2... 1...

"Wait..."

* * *

 **A/N:** **Did I lie or oversell the fluff warning? Well, I wanted this chapter to be sweet because I need people to get along for this story to get where I want it. Next chapter will have some nice family drama, and we will explore the inner workings of the Patel family! I realize now that that sounds strange. Oh well, I like it. It stays.**

 **Before I forget, I don't remember giving Marshall's boyfriend a name, and I'm not sure what it will be yet, so if you want, you can comment a name, and I will choose the one I think suits him best.**

 **Reviews~~~**

 **ArmCannos34: Thank you for reviewing again, I really appreciate it. I hope you have a good day/night as well!**

 **Nameless Angel 00: Wait no more! Thank you so much for reviewing so long ago, and I am really sorry for making you wait after you said you couldn't.**

 **No sunflowers were harmed in the making of this chapter.**

 **See you all (hopefully) soon!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Oh God, it's been way too long since I've updated this. But I guess this proves that I'm not dead. I know that I was supposed to update this shortly after chapter three was up, but I... actually I'm not sure what happened. I remember that I finished this chapter in December, but I still needed to edit it, and then there were exams and the beginning of second semester, and I suddenly realized it was February and I haven't updated since October (it was October, right). Anyhow, I hope you enjoy this chapter and accept my sincerest apologies.**

* * *

"Ah, Marshall, wait up," that would be Marshall's boyfriend, Daniel.

Sure enough, the two showed up at the entrance to the rec room a few seconds later. Daniel had a neutral expression, which was actually a bit unexpected, but Marshall's reaction was gold. Or crap. Depends on how you look at it.

"Who the hell is he?" my dearest twin asked me in his angelic voice that I've missed so much.

I stood up, which prompted Ivan to do the same (after laying Alex down on the couch first).

"Ivan this is my brother, Marshall, and his friend, Daniel," I left out the _boyfriend_ part, because I never actually checked Ivan's opinion on the matter. "Marshall, this is Iv-"

"What are your intentions with my sister?" I was cut off by my overprotective brother. Will I be cut off by everyone today?

Wait, what did he say?

"Excuse me?" Ivan asked.

"Liz," he started, turning toward me, "he's taller than Dad! You can't trust him!"

Ivan and I exchanged a classic 'what the hell' face.

"Marsh, what kind of reasoning is that, and anyway, you have the wro-"

"It is the kind of reasoning that means I don't like him!"

Ivan looked unaffected by this, but I wanted to clear this up.

"He doesn't trust any of my friends," I explained to the Russian.

"Hey, I put a lot of trust in _your friend_ , Daniel, here," my twin pointed out.

He does have a point, Daniel is one of my best friends.

"To be fair, you saw him first," I rebuke.

Our argument continued, and neither of us noticed Ivan and Daniel having their own conversation.

How rude, I was defending Ivan, and he goes ahead and ignores me? And Daniel, uh... well he doesn't really have a part in this.

"Great, the idiot is here," I heard my sister's voice, and sure enough, she was standing at the other end of the room.

"Helena, it's rude to call people idiots," I stop the argument to scold her.

"You just called him an idiot, hypocrite. Anyway, Mom said dinner's ready," she then turned and walked out.

After giving Marshall a death glare, I took Ivan to the dining room. Effectively leaving Daniel and Marshall to wake Alex up. Lucky them.

"Sorry about my brother," I apologized on the way to the dining room.

"There is no need to apologize," Ivan told me with his signature smile. "Just another reason to believe your family is fun!"

I sighed. Is he still going on about that?

When we made it to the table, it was already set, and Helena was sitting at the chair nearest to the window. Of course she was on her phone.

I told Ivan to pick whatever seat he wanted, so he ended up on Lena's right. I knew I would have to sit with him from the start, so I made my way around the table. As I passed my younger sister, I snatched her phone from her hands and gave it to Ivan.

It worked surprisingly well. Initially, Helena was mad, but then she watched me give her phone to the large man beside her, and you could see the look of defeat on her face.

"Ivan will give it back before dessert," I tell her.

 ***This is a time skip brought to you by cell phones***

Dinner turned out to be chicken parmesan, and I'm not going to lie, it was delicious. There wasn't much conversation during the meal like usual, but it picked up when we were almost done.

A while ago, when the meal first started, I saw Ivan slip my sister her phone back. That was unexpected, but I guess he wasn't in the wrong because I did say she would get it back before dessert.

"Lizbet, _Ivan_ , how did you two meet?" Marshall began his interrogation, practically spitting out the Russian's name.

"He was wandering the streets, trying to find a bus stop," I made up a story, giving Ivan a knowing glance. There was no way I was going to tell my family that he just appeared in my apartment and I let him stay with me.

"A bus stop? How romantic," Marshall scoffed. His statement caused me to want to punch him, but I didn't. I chose to ignore him, and let Ivan make up the rest of the story.

"Well, I am visiting from Russia, so I was very lost. I was being tired, and Lizbet offered to bring me where I needed."

Yes. Thank you Ivan, this lie can work. All we need now is for my family to not ask any follow-up questions.

"So Ivan, what brings you to Canada?" my mother asked.

Ivan looked as if he didn't know the answer to the simple question.

"I think I came here for business, but I am not quite sure now," was his reply before taking a sip of water.

"What do you mean by 'you think'?"

"Well, I was originally coming here to be a representative of the Russian branch of the company I work for, but the meeting got cancelled on the flight over," he didn't look like he wanted to finish his story, but he did anyway. "My younger sister is the representative from Belarus, and we were on the same flight," ah, that's why he was uncomfortable. "She… causes a lot of stress for me, and wanted to follow me, but I did not want her to… add to my stress. Now, I am hiding from her."

That was unexpected. It left an awkward lull in the conversation, which my mother interrupted with "oh".

Marshall didn't look like he believed the story for a second, and was giving me that look of his. You know, the 'I still don't trust him, he's lying to us all, why is he here' look.

Normally, I wouldn't believe a story like that, but he told me a bit about his younger sister, so I can see how the story could be true.

But if this is true, that makes his explanation of how he got into my apartment less believable. If he is hiding from his sister, someone's house would be a good hiding place. Did someone really force him into my place, or what? I don't know what to believe.

"Ivan," Daniel began, "earlier you told me you like hockey. Do you play, or just like watching it?"

See, Daniel knows how to stop awkward silences.

"Yes, I play, but not often. Mostly against one of my colleagues, Matthew, though. He may seem quiet and polite, but he is always being ruthless on the ice," it looked like Ivan was flashing back to something painful. "Very ruthless."

"See Marshall, he likes hockey," Daniel pointed out to my brother. I turned to him as well. Marshall likes to watch hockey, but Daniel doesn't. I think he might warm up to him if they have something to bond over.

"Fine. Ivan, you aren't as terrible as I thought."

Wait. Did my brother just say that? Did my twin brother, _Marshall Patel_ , just say that about Ivan out loud? This had never happened before. He usually hates everyone that gets close to me (well, ever since that one incident in high school that is).

Ivan giggled, "спасибо, Marshall."

"Oh yes, Ivan?" oh great, I know where my father is going with this. "I would like to offer you a wonderful job opportunity."

"Dad, he already has a job," I said, but was ignored. Is this how Helena feels?

"A job opportunity?" Ivan asked.

"Oh dear, please tell me you aren't going to talk about this now," mom said. We all get annoyed by dad's constant asking people to work with him.

"Yes," add my mom to the 'ignored' list, "you see, I work as a translator-"

"Dad…" Daniel warned.

"And I offer many languages-"

"Dad!" Helena whined.

"But you see, Russian is one language I haven't picked up yet-"

"Dad. Stop," I said.

"And I would pay you handsomely if we could work together."

"David, he's Lizbet's guest, do not bring this up," my mother tried to get my dad to shut up, but to no avail, he had already finished talking.

Ivan was actually considering the offer. Why?

He was about to open his mouth to reply, when the entire room broke out into loud protests.

"Ivan! Don't do it!"

"It's not worth the money!"

"I'll pay you more money to not do it!"

These were just some of the things that were shouted at Ivan all at once. It didn't seem that we made a dent in his decision though. The only reaction we got out of him was a wide smile and:

"See Lizbet, your family is very fun!"

I would have slammed my head onto the table had it not been covered with plates and food, so I settled for Ivan's shoulder. It hurt.

I was too busy rubbing my head where Ivan so _rudely jabbed_ with his shoulder to catch the rest of the conversation, but both my father and Ivan looked satisfied.

"Ivan, what did you just agree to?" Helena asked rhetorically.

 ***Wonderful time skip brought to you by chicken parm***

We soon ended up in the living room again, but we weren't playing around this time. Helena took the first opportunity she had to get away from Ivan by taking up the entire loveseat on the back wall. On the couch, there was me, Ivan, and Marshall. Remember that order. My twin originally wanted to sit between the two of us, but backed off when he saw the glare Ivan gave him.

I don't see why he was intimidated by that, I've given him worse.

The conversation became lively again with random questions ranging from politics to cereal flavors. (Don't ask, Alex brought it up).

Ivan was in the middle of telling a story to us about how he accidentally broke a cursed chair a couple of times.

"It was a very comfortable chair too, but I-"

"One time I broke the dining table," Marshall piped in.

"Marshall!" I reached around Ivan and smacked my brother upside the head. "Don't be so rude!"

"Hey!"

We all ignored him and Ivan went back to his story.

"Like I was saying, the chair was really comfortable, but whenever I would sit in it, it would explode somehow…"

"How the hell does a chair explode, did you put a bomb on it or something?" Marshall asked.

Although I'm glad he's taking an interest in what's going on, my brother could be a bit nicer. If he makes another rude comment, I'm going to snap.

"Marsh, that's enough," this time, Daniel was the one scolding him. This means my brother is going too far.

"But I'm just saying, how does a chair explode just by sitting in it? It doesn't make any sense. Curses and magic don't exist, so it doesn't make any sense!"

This time, Marshall's rudeness reached Alex. You could see the tears well up in his eyes about the magic comment.

That was the final straw for me. There wasn't anything in my way that could stop me from kicking my twin in the stomach. So that's exactly what I did.

Now, recall when I told you to remember the seating order on the couch. Yeah. Well, apparently Ivan was in my way. I, of course, realized it too late.

I ended up swinging my legs over Ivan's, effectively kicking my brother's stomach… and… getting myself in a very awkward position with Ivan.

I don't think either of us knew how to react, but as I was just about to sit normally again, I was pulled to sit fully on the Russian's lap.

I want you to imagine a fire truck right now. That is the approximate shade of red my face turned. Now, I want you to imagine a tomato. That is the approximate shade that my sister's face turned. You can decide if the tomato was ripe or not. Either way, it would be accurate.

I looked up at Ivan's face for half a second before looking back at my lap. He had an innocent/oblivious smile on his face. I knew he did it on purpose, but that smile was beginning to convince me otherwise.

"Now all we need is mistletoe~" I heard Daniel whisper to my mother.

"Dude, it's the middle of summer," Helena loudly pronounced.

"Christmas in July," was the only thing said after that.

Normally, I would panic at being this close to another person for this long and get the hell back where I was, but I lost the chance when Alex, who was previously sitting on the floor, took my spot on the couch.

So there I was, sitting in the lap of a (adorable) Russian that I've not known for a whole day in front of my family. You know that cliché where the father is extremely overprotective of his daughter? That is not true in my family. Instead, he is more lax of my decisions, whereas my twin brother takes on the overprotective role.

This is going to be interesting.

* * *

 **A/N: So, how was it? I hope it made up for the lost time. If not, I'm sorry again for the wait and the crappy chapter. Personally, I don't like this one, but at least we get a glimpse of Patel family life. Honestly, I was also a little put down that I got no suggestions for Marshall's boyfriend's name, so I had to ask my friend who wanted him to be named after himself, so Daniel was chosen.**

 **I hope you liked the comparison of an (un)ripe tomato and Helena's face. I got the idea from my friend when she ate some bad spicy food.**

 **Reviews~~~**

 **Blackdevil Nightheart: I am sorry I, or any of the characters in this fic are responsible for death by fluff. If you see an issue regarding this policy, please dial one.**

 **novampires503: Thank you so much for the compliments. It really made me more confident in the way I was writing Ivan. With characters that aren't one's own, it's difficult to portray them properly sometimes. I'm sorry it took me so long to post this. It just seems that whenever I'm told to update soon, it does the opposite. And remember, Poland is a blessing to this world, and so are you.**


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